Saturday, April 22, 2017

Recently, I’ve been researching a particular Torres family
in Socorro. Specifically, the descendants of Agustin Torres and Felipa Baca.
Independently of these research needs, I purchased a book titled “Santa BarbaraCemetery: Albuquerque, New Mexico”. At
least I thought it was independent of those needs.

Today I was in the Albuquerque Genealogy Library where I
came across the authors of the above-mentioned book. I told Cheril that I had
purchased the book, and she went to the shelves and brought out a copy. We
began going through it, when I remembered that there was a particular family
that I found at the cemetery when I visited it last years.

Getudres Zimmerly, the sister of my great-grandfather Estevan
Zimmerly (not to confused with Estevan’s daughter of the same name) was married
to Herminio Torres, her first cousin. This couple is buried in the cemetery,
although not together. However, Getrudes is buried next to her adult son Ernest
Torres. We found the entries for this family in the book, and was I able to
give Cheril and her co-author Nancy some more information about this family. I
mentioned that I did not know if Ernest had been married or not, and Cheril
suggested that I look up his death certificate and obituary on the genealogy
library’s LAN system. Well, I found his death certificates and four separate obituaries.
I now know his wife’s name was Suzanne, he had a daughter named Edna Lois
Torres and that his three sisters were married to M.A. Pino, John F. Ulivari
(Ulibarri) and J.R. DeArmond. Although I don’t know which sister goes with
which husband, I at least have a few leads for the family.

Below are links to my Evernote captures of the four
obituaries and death certificate:

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Below is an index of Socorro County Marriages as recorded in the Socorro County Courthouse, from the periods of 1885-1907 and 1911. These are images 41-60. These specific records are for the years 1888-1891. You can view the images yourself by clicking on the link below.

Image 60(continuing San Miguel Church marriages
from images 58 & 59)Jenaro Melero; Lucaria MontoyaIgancio Duran; Guadalupe Baca (apparently
this is the same couple as the couple on
image 56. It appears that they were
married by the justice of the peace on 20
March 1891, and then by the Catholic
Church on 1 May 1891.)Joseph Page; Jennie CorranPilar Salas; Librada RuizTeodoro Apodaca; Valentina Griego
"Rev. Anthony Fourchigro, Pastor and
Rector of Saint Michael's Church of
Socorro.July 1, 1891"(End of San Miguel records)

Saturday, April 15, 2017

On Thursday, I blogged about Family Search's (relatively) new collection of databases on New Mexico County Marriages, 1885-1954 (LINK.) This collection is of marriages recorded in the Sandoval, Socorro and Valencia county courthouses. These are actual images of entries and certificates.

Yesterday, I received a request from a friend asking if I could find a marriage record for her grandparents. She knew her grandparents had been married in Magdalena (Socorro County), but she was unsure of the date. She thought that they may have been married in 1910. I found their marriage record in January 1908. The record did not included their parents names (she already had them), but it did include their birthdates. Now any good genealogist will tell you that a birthdate mentioned in a marriage record is not a primary source - primary sources are created soon after the event occurs, and marriages take place many years after a person's birth - but it is at least a good "clue" to the actual birthdate of a person, if not the actual birthdate itself. I would suggest searching for a baptismal record or a birth certificate (if it exists) for that person to confirm birthdates.

I was able to find this record only because I was able to find a second index in one of the databases. Socorro County Marriages 1885-1913, Vols. 1-3 actually has THREE indexes, as it has three volumes (LINK.) The indexes are somewhat in alphabetical order, as in they are categorized by first letter. However, since they were indexed at the same time that the entries were made, the alphabetical order within the letter groupings is mixed up. It's easy enough to read through, though, as their is usually not more than one letter group per image.

* Volume One - The index is on images 6 through 31. The entries begin on image 32.
* Volume Two - The index is on images 181 through 195. The entries begin immediately on image 195.
* Volume Three - The index is on images 467 through 490. The entries begin on image 491.

It's important to realize that the index are for page numbers and NOT image numbers. The pages are on the top of the images, and there are usually two pages per image. You'll have to browse through the database to find the exact page you are looking for.

Friday, April 14, 2017

Below is an index of Socorro County Marriages as recorded in the Socorro County Courthouse, from the periods of 1885-1907 and 1911. I've indexed the first 40 frames. I made no attempt to record dates or other information, just the names of the married couples. These specific records are for the years 1885-1888. You can view the images yourself by clicking on the link below.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

For anyone looking for late 19th Century through mid 20th Century marriage records in Sandoval, Socorro or Valencia Counties, there is a (relatively) new resource online. FamilySearch.org has added a collection "New Mexico, County Marriages, 1885-1954". These databases have images of marriage records from the state archives and county courthouses. It is not a searchable database; you will have to browse through the collection. However, in at least in a few of the databases, there are indexes in the first few images.

Click on this link read the description of this collection. Click on the link on that page to browse through the images.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Prior to statehood, and a couple of decades afterwards, Republicans held the majority in New Mexico. Most of delegates to the 1911 New Mexico Constitutional Convention were Republican; all of Hispanic delegates were Republican. It wouldn't be until Dennis Chavez was elected to the U.S. Senate, Franklin Roosevelt became president, and the New Deal began to affect New Mexico that the majority of voters in New Mexico switched from Republican to Democrat.

Socorro County, like many counties in New Mexico, was dominated by the Republican Party. Many Hispanics were in the leadership of the Socorro County Republican Party, including my second great-grandfather Jose Epitacio Torres. The 15 September 1906 issue of "The Socorro Chieftain listed Jose E. Torres as the county's Chairman of the Republican Central Committee.

The image below is a list a delegates to the Socorro County Convention. The delegates include the following men:

These delegates were to attend the Socorro convention, and elect 11 delegates who were attend the state convention in Las Vegas, New Mexico, on 29 September.

The results of the Socorro County Republican Convention can be read on the Chronicling America website here (click on link.) The convention favored joint statehood. Joint statehood was an idea of annexing New Mexico and Arizona into the United States as one state. Obviously, that did not happen, but statehood had eluded New Mexicans for over 50 years by this point and many believed that this was the only way that New Mexico could achieve statehood.